Beverly’s FY18 budget gains final approval

While there was much discussion over allocating additional resources to the schools, the Beverly City Council passed the $123.35 million FY18 budget on Monday, June 19, with no alterations.

Councilor Matt St. Hilaire, while discussing the budget, did propose cuts that could be reallocated to the schools to reduce full-day kindergarten fees.

“I’m planning on proposing several amendments tonight to reduce the total budget by about $320,000,” St. Hilaire said. “I think we’ve heard ample concern about class sizes … I think we can do better in that area. I’ve also been a strong advocate for reducing and eliminating the $4,000 kindergarten fee. I think it’s unacceptable.”

However, given Mayor Michael P. Cahill’s insistence that no funds would be added to the schools, none of those amendments passed. Prior to the City Council going line-by-line through the budget, Mayor Cahill took some time to clarify his stance.

“Last year, there was a process where we collectively engaged in identifying some money within the city side of the budget to transfer over to the schools,” Mayor Cahill said. “This year, the process of identifying any additional funds happened at the School Committee, within the school budget discussion and debate. Specifically, we proposed to the School Committee a budget that increased spending for the schools by $1.584 million.”

However, during the discussion, Mayor Cahill said it became clear that there might be more need to allow for more flexibility within the school budget to address enrollment.

Superintendent Dr. Steven Hiersche was asked to prioritize where the money would go if he were given additional funds.

“What he came back with was his recommendation that, if we had additional money, his first and top priority would be to give additional flexibility to him and his team in addressing enrollment issues,” Mayor Cahill said. “What we were able to do before the School Committee was add $229,000 to a budget that already had flexibility around enrollment, and so that created more.”

Mayor Cahill said those funds were already allocated prior to parents coming before the City Council to plead for additional funding for the schools.

“That’s more money than we initially really felt we could afford to put forward, but what it reflects now is $1.9 million in new city funds for our schools, a proposed 4 percent increase in city funding,” he said. “To go along with that, it’s important to note that we collectively have prioritized our schools very high on our list. We have done everything we can to support our schools.”

Looking back at the last few fiscal years, Mayor Cahill said the average increase in the school budget is 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, the average increase to municipal departments is 2.7 percent.

“Over the last three fiscal years, on average, the school department has gotten nearly 1 percent more in more city funding each year than the municipal departments,” Mayor Cahill said, once again stating his feelings that he didn’t feel cutting municipal budgets to reallocate funds to the school would be appropriate. “We are already putting everything we can afford to put into the schools.”

Budget breakdown

The following breakdown of the FY18 budget details the allocations and results of voting by council members.

TRANSFERS

- Approval of transfer line item of $1,300,000 for roads and sidewalks: 7-2, with Councilors St. Hilaire and Estelle Rand opposed (amendment by Councilor St. Hilaire to cut $100,000 failed, 4-5)